FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MICHIGAN CITY - PAGE 2

MICHIGAN CITY -- More life is returning to Michigan City's once-dormant north end from a strategic plan that is not being allowed to gather dust. Authors of the plan five years after it was developed have taken notice, and officials sold on the early results vow to pursue the recommendations that have not yet been implemented. "It really is nice to see the beginning of our planning revolution," city council member Richard Murphy said. Professor Andrew von Mauer from Andrews University in Berrien Springs returned last week to go over the plan and discuss the results with the city council and the audience at City Hall.

MICHIGAN CITY -- A physician with practices in Michigan City and Chicago has been indicted on federal charges of submitting more than $3 million in false medical claims to private insurers and the government. Paul Madison, 59, was indicted Dec. 20 by a grand jury on 11 counts, including health care fraud, according to the U.S. attorney's office out of Chicago. All of the charges are linked to his practices from Watertower SurgiCenter, LLC, an outpatient facility he owned at 845 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

MICHIGAN CITY -- A northwestern Indiana man had his life taken early Thursday on Interstate 94 near Michigan City by a wrong-way driver who also perished. And when police in Michigan went to the home of the man who caused the fiery crash, they found his wife and two young children had been stabbed to death. Both bodies involved in the head-on collision were burned beyond recognition, said LaPorte County Coroner John Sullivan. "It was the worst one I've seen in recent history," said Sullivan.

Michigan City utility player Andrew Ray was named to the All-Duneland Athletic Conference baseball first team. Michigan City finished in fifth place in the league with a 5-9 record. Chesterton won the conference at 13-1.

MICHIGAN CITY - “What's Wrong With This Picture?” opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. CDT Friday at Blink Contemporary Art, 1709 Franklin St. The exhibit about the breast cancer experience is by designer Kay Hartmann, a professor in the art and design department at Columbia College in Chicago. The exhibit continues through Nov. 18. For more information, call 219-879-2994 or 773-206-0426.

MICHIGAN CITY - The 59th season of the Purdue University North Central Sinai Forum will open Sept. 23 with David Gergen discussing “What Can We Expect in 2012? Election Issues and Answers.” The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. Michigan City time at Elston Middle School, 317 Detroit St. Gergen serves as a senior political analyst for CNN, is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a contributor to Parade magazine.

MICHIGAN CITY — A Michigan City school bus driver has been disciplined after a 5-year-old got on the wrong bus. The boy's father, Nicholas Gobin, said he doesn't want the driver fired, but a clear message should be sent. On the first day back to school last week, his son, Drakko, boarded the wrong bus outside Knapp Elementary. The boy was dropped off at 9th and Willard streets, at least a mile away from his mother's residence. A friend of the boy's mother heard from her child that Drakko was on the wrong bus and quickly found him still at the bus stop.

MICHIGAN CITY -- The police officer who shot a 19-year-old Michigan City man who ran from a traffic stop Wednesday night is on paid administrative leave, according to a news release from the Indiana State Police. The man who was shot was listed in serious condition at Memorial Hospital in South Bend on Thursday morning. The officer involved in the shooting is city police Patrolman Ron Skibins, who has been on the force for six years. A state police news release detailed the events: Two Michigan City officers in uniforms and assigned to the Safe Streets Team stopped a 2011 Chevy Malibu for an alleged traffic violation on Welnetz Road at 5:53 p.m. Wednesday.

All parks in Michigan City are now closing earlier in response to a weekend shooting and outbreak of other acts at the lakefront. The park board Wednesday evening made the decision, but it's something already practiced in many areas along the shoreline from Chicago into Michigan, said Michigan City Parks Department Superintendent Jan Orlich. "It will allow us to fall in line with other parks that close early hoping to reduce that activity in the evening hours," Orlich said.